April 26, 2024

Announcements, events, funding opportunities and more news for the Mass General Research Institute community.

In this edition:

(Scroll down for more info and click on the links for additional details)

Funding Opportunities

NEW Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award
NEW ADA Pathways to Stop Diabetes 2024
NEW Support for Early Career Investigators
Innovation Award to Catalyze Military-Connected Research
K12 Investigator Award
Andrew L. Warshaw, M.D, Institute for Pancreatic Cancer Research
MGH Screening Technologies in Primary Care Innovation Fund
Limited Submission Funding
Foundation Funding Opportunities

Announcements:

NEW 39th Annual Critical Issues in Tumor Microenvironment
NEW BioRender Software
NEW ISuggest
Research Integrity Update
Call for Applications: Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholars Award
Nominate a scientific superstar now
MGH Information Security & Privacy Awareness Weeks

Events:

Fun Friday - Sit, Stretch, and Smile: Yoga for All
May MGH Research Council
Annual Musculoskeletal Research Symposium
Parenting Series 2023-2024 The Crucial C’s & Family Meetings
Lubin Family Foundation Scholar Award Annual Symposium
MGB Research Strategic Planning Process Town Halls
2024 Anne Klibanski Visiting Lecture Series 07
Nancy J. Tarbell, MD Faculty Development Lecture Series
NEW Helen Gurley Brown Presidential Summit
Fourth Annual Conference on Precision Psychiatry
10th Annual World Medical Innovation Forum
NEW 4th Annual Conference on Precision Psychiatry
Two Meditation Sessions available every week

NEW Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award

Harrington Discovery Institute (HDI) invites you to submit an LOI for the 2024 Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award. The award offers successful applicants multiple opportunities for funding in addition to expertise from pharma-experienced leaders with a track record of bringing drugs to market. Intellectual property rights are retained by the award recipient or their institution.

Up to 12 Scholar-Innovators will be selected to receive:

$100,000 guaranteed grant award;
Drug and business development support from Harrington’s Therapeutics Development Center advisors;
Opportunity to compete for acceleration funds up to $300,000;
Opportunity to qualify for investment funds typically up to $2MM;

Letters of Intent (LOI) Due: June 5, 2024

Learn more

NEW ADA Pathways to Stop Diabetes 2024

The Pathway to Stop Diabetes Program intends to attract brilliant scientists at the peak of their creativity to diabetes research, and to accelerate their research progress by providing the necessary resources and support for conducting transformative science.

This call for nominations will prioritize translational applications that move knowledge and discovery gained from basic research to its eventual translation into patient and population benefit. The ideal applicant will propose innovative research that will be an important step towards the eventual goal of improving the lives of people at risk of diabetes or living with the disease—and the pathway to this impact is clear. The sponsor’s vision is to create a pathway to launch the next generation of trailblazers in diabetes research.

MGH Letter of Intent Deadline: Thursday, May 9, 2024, 5:00pm

Full application to sponsor: July 17, 2024 (5:00pm ET)

Learn more

NEW Support for Early Career Investigators at the Translational and Clinical Research Center

The TCRC at Massachusetts General Hospital will support two early career investigators each year to perform their pilot and feasibility studies or studies related to their early career awards on the TCRC.

Awardees will not be charged for nursing, nutrition, or sample processing time, the TCRC annual fee or the TCRC per visit fee for research conducted on the TCRC (for up to $10,000 per year for two years). Coordinator support will not be available through this program.

Awardees will be supported via consultation with the TCRC Medical Resource Officer in protocol development, building of budgets, grant writing, filing of INDs/IDEs, and study implementation. They will receive guidance regarding participant recruitment and retention in the study, and other support as necessary for successful completion of the proposed project. Awardees will be encouraged to participate in Catalyst supported resources such as the C/T Academy and the GRASP program.

Learn more

FY 2025 Innovation Award to Catalyze Military-Connected Research

Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program, is providing catalyst funding to be used toward innovative, military-focused research. The purpose of this funding is to stimulate new ideas and exciting approaches to research designed to yield meaningful impact for Veterans, Active-Duty Service Members and Military-Connected Families.

We plan to provide 2 grants of $75,000 each, inclusive of 20% indirect costs. The project period for your proposal can be either 1 year or 2 years. To be eligible to apply, the Principal investigator(s) must hold an MGB faculty appointment in any department.

The application deadline is Friday May 31, 2024 at 5:00 pm.

Learn more

K12 Investigator Award

The Harvard Catalyst K12 Investigator Award (formerly KL2/CMeRIT) provides advanced training in clinical and translational research to senior fellows and junior faculty from all health professions represented by Harvard Catalyst, including medicine, dentistry, and nursing.

Awardees will pursue a mentored research project in their area of expertise. It is expected that the research performed within the K12 program will provide the basis for a subsequent NIH award (e.g., K23, KO8, or RO1).

The K12 Investigator Award program provides two years of salary support at 75% of the awardee’s institutional salary base, up to the K12 NIH salary cap of $160,000 (i.e., $120,000 would be covered). Surgeons may request salary support of between 50% and 75%. Educational programs within Harvard Catalyst will be tuition-free. Funding for awardees begins October 1, 2024.

Applications are due May 24.

Learn more

Andrew L. Warshaw, M.D, Institute for Pancreatic Cancer Research

The Andrew L. Warshaw, M.D., Institute for Pancreatic Cancer Research invites applications for pilot grant funding from MGH investigators. Applications are welcome from new investigators, established investigators in the field of pancreatic cancer, as well as senior investigators who have not previously worked in this area.

Up to three pilot grants will be funded for one year at $60,000 plus the applicable indirect cost rate.

Deadline - Friday, May 3, 2024, at 5:00PM

Learn more

MGH Screening Technologies in Primary Care Innovation Fund

There is great promise for the development of new technologies to detect disease or disease risk factors at an earlier stage in the primary care setting. However, innovative screening technologies are frequently difficult to get off the ground due to challenges conducting research in the primary care setting and difficulties translating and commercializing technologies that need to be implemented in a cost-effective manner and on a large scale.

Award: One pilot grant will be funded for one year at $50,000 (direct costs) + 20% (indirect).

Due date for proposals: May 31, 2024

Learn more

Limited Submission Funding Opportunities

We ask that all MGH Investigators interested in applying for any limited submission award submit a Letter of Intent (see detailed instructions below) to the MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) by the deadline indicated for each award to be considered to receive an institutional nomination.

CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES:

See full details for all awards on our website.

Cystic Fibrosis Research and Translation Centers (P30 Clinical Trial Optional) – NEW!

MGH LOI Deadline: 5/17/24

Learn more

Foundation Funding Opportunities

Please contact Corporate & Foundation Relations in the Office of Development at devcfr@mgh.harvard.edu if you wish to submit a proposal in response to any of these opportunities. Note that proposals are still routed through the standard InfoEd/Research Management process.

For all open foundation funding announcements, see the MGB Innovation External Funding Database

CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES:

See this week’s full foundation funding announcements (including eligibility, RM deadlines, and IDC) on our website.

International Collaborative Clinical Research Grant, ASRT Foundation/ American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT). $50,000 (10% IDC). LOI Deadline: June 30
Research Grant Program, Amyloidosis Foundation. $75,000 (15% IDC). Application Deadline: September 13
See, Test & Treat Grant (breast cancer screening), CAP Foundation/College of American Pathologists (CAP). $50,000 (Unspecified IDC). Application Deadline: September 3
Spinal Cord Injury Research on the Translational Spectrum (SCIRTS) (multiple opps), Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. $800,000 (10% IDC). LOI Deadline: June 7
Request For Research Proposals, Histiocytosis Association. $50,000 (No IDC). Proposal Deadline: June 16
Brain and Neurodegenerative Disease Health Outcomes Research Grant, Local Initiative for Excellence (L.I.F.E.) Foundation. $100,000 (No IDC). LOI Deadline: June 30
Biomedical Research Project Grants, Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) (MND Association). ≈395,000 (No IDC). Proposal Deadline: November 1
Research Fellow Award Program, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF). $150,000 (10% IDC). Application Deadline: June 28
NEW! Conflict-Related Genital-Injury Project, Scar Free Foundation. ≈$338,000 (Unspecified IDC). Application Deadline: June 28

Do you want to learn more about identifying external funding opportunities? Please click here to request a research consultation with Amy Robb or see ECOR’s website for information on the Pivot database.

NEW 39th Annual Critical Issues in Tumor Microenvironment

The “39th Annual Critical Issues in Tumor Microenvironment: Angiogenesis, Metastasis and Immunology” course will continue to offer the best in critical analysis of what is currently known about the tumor microenvironment, angiogenesis, metastasis, immunology. This will include chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, tumor metabolism, and the role of microbiome. This year, we will include two new lectures on cancer neuroscience and the use of Artificial Intelligence for cancer research. The faculty is internationally recognized. They will present their latest findings from their clinics and laboratories. The goal is to highlight key gaps in present knowledge of cancer and outline future directions for research at the bench, in the clinic, and in drug development.

Learn More

NEW BioRender Software

Annual License Renewal and Signup:

If you have a BioRender license through the Research Computing Core, it's time to renew. BioRender licenses expire each year on April 30th and can be renewed, starting May 1. Request a software license through the ERIS Research Computing Core Service Catalog. The annual fee is $180/license. More information about BioRender, and other software offerings are on the ERIS Research Computing Core site.

NEW Submit an Idea to Isuggest!

Have an idea or a suggestion on how we can improve? Please submit a suggestion to Isuggest!

The ultimate goal of Isuggest is to reduce the administrative burden and improve the organizational efficiency for the research enterprise at Mass General Brigham. Established as an extension of the Continuous Research Operations Improvement (CROI) Program, the Isuggest platform serves as a bridge between the research-community and administration, leveraging community-driven insights into optimizing research efficiency, support, and related processes.

Learn More

Research Integrity Update

Over the past few months, researchers have found themselves under increasing scrutiny from the public attention on research integrity issues. As such, the research community has been reaching out looking for tools and resources.

We are continuously working to enhance our MGB Research Integrity program. We are reviewing our current portfolio of education and resources as well as collaborating with the Academic and Research Integrity Office at Harvard Medical School to assess two AI based tools -Proofig and ImageTwin. While these tools are currently available on the market, both are still evolving technology and perform differently. ImageTwin compares images against an external database of published images and can also compare images within papers while Proofig reviews for internal duplications and inconsistencies. Before MGB can consider making these tools available to the research community, we must assess the security of our data that is evaluated by these tools. Additional evaluation includes review of product features and capabilities, ease of use, accuracy, and cost. Neither of these tools would be intended to replace the expert eye and good data management practices or be deemed as a solution to research misconduct.

Learn more

Call for Applications

Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholars Award

The Center for Faculty Development’s Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholars Award was specifically created to provide focused opportunities in speaking, coaching, and networking for women faculty. Given its success, it has continued; there are currently 4 Cohorts of Anne Klibanski Scholars, and we are now launching the 5^th call for applications. This award will be presented to women faculty at MGH who have shown exceptional promise as future leaders and whose careers will specifically benefit from speaking and networking opportunities at the national or international level. The award provides the opportunity to serve as a “virtual” Visiting Professor and give Grand Rounds at a national or international institution, organized through the scholar’s “champion,” a senior member of the MGH faculty. It is the hope of the program that this opportunity will facilitate connections with collaborators and/or mentors at the host institution(s). Anne Klibanski Scholars will also build connections with each other, network with colleagues at MGH, and receive dedicated coaching, training, and peer mentoring support.

The application deadline is Friday, May 17, at 11:59 pm. To learn more and apply, click here.

Nominate a scientific superstar now

STAT is thrilled to announce that our search for the brightest young minds in academia, industry, and clinical fields is officially underway for the 2024 edition of our esteemed Wunderkinds program.

We are dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the remarkable contributions of early-career researchers who are already making waves in their respective fields and are poised for even greater achievements in the future.

Those who embody excellence and innovation in their work should be nominated. Whether they are postdocs, residents, interns, or industry researchers, if you know someone who is pushing boundaries and shaping the future of science and medicine, we want to hear about them.

Nominations are open until July 15th through our short nomination form.

NOMINATE

See these events and more on the calendar of events

Fun Friday - Sit, Stretch, and Smile: Yoga for All

Friday, May 3, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 pm, Zoom

Fun Fridays offer a refreshing mid-day break from work to indulge in physical, mental, or creative activity.

Laura specializes in making yoga accessible to everyone, regardless of age, mobility, or fitness level. Through breath work, gentle stretches, and mindfulness practices, Laura helps students find relaxation, improve flexibility, and cultivate inner peace, all from the comfort of a chair or standing. On this Friday we will target shoulders, wrists, and back!

Facilitator: Laura VanParys is the Program Coordinator for Employee Services within the Center of Comparative Medicine. She completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in Bali, March of 2023 and teaches heated vinyasa classes in South Boston.

May MGH Research Council

Monday, May 6th, 2024, Assembly Row

Announcing the 9th Annual Musculoskeletal Research Symposium hosted by the Center for Musculoskeletal Research at MGH. Join MSK researchers from around Massachusetts for a great day of talks, posters and networking. Featuring renowned guest speakers Alison Boyce from the NIH and Sundeep Khosla from the Mayo Clinic, the symposium will be held at Assembly Row on Monday May 6. Lunch and snacks provided.

Annual Musculoskeletal Research Symposium

May 6th, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00 PM, Simches Auditorium

Learn more

Parenting Series 2023-2024

The Crucial C’s & Family Meetings

Wednesday, May 7, 2024 12:00 – 100 pm

Symposium program and schedule with keynote speaker Dr. Harold Varmus. The Lubin Family Foundation Scholar Award provides unmatched mentorship opportunities and financial support to the most promising physician-scientists across Boston’s academic medical community as they launch their careers in cancer research. Join us at this special inaugural event to hear about advancements in cancer care and research led by Lubin Scholars and Mentors. Network and learn more about this prestigious award.

Lubin Family Foundation Scholar Award Annual Symposium

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 12:30 – 6:00 pm

MGB Research Strategic Planning Process Town Halls

Friday, May 10, 8:30 - 10:00AM & Tuesday May 14, 2:30 - 4:00PM

One of the current MGB system goals is to create a 10-year strategic plan for the MGB research enterprise.

We are embarking upon this strategic planning exercise in FY24 to ensure sustainable growth, address operational and organizational challenges, and maintain our reputation as a world leader in biomedical research. You can learn more here.

Input from our MGB research community is critical to the development of the strategic plan. Please join us at one of the two times below to learn about the plan's progress and contribute your thoughts. Each town hall will be led by Paul Anderson, MD, PhD - MGB Chief Academic Officer - and Allison Moriarty - SVP, Research Planning & Operations, and Innovation.

2024 Anne Klibanski Visiting Lecture Series 07

Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00 pm

"Insights into the pathophysiology and treatment of PCOS"

Presenter:

Chu-Chun Huang, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor and Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch. Douliu City, Taiwan.

Nancy J. Tarbell, MD Faculty Development Lecture Series

Thursday, May 30, 2024, 12:00 – 1:00 pm

“Finding your Voice through Writing in Medicine”

Presenter:

Grace C. Huang, MD, Dean for Faculty Affairs and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School; and Hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

NEW Helen Gurley Brown Presidential Summit on Women and Science

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Yawkey Center for Cancer Care, Conference Center, 3rd Floor, Room 306

450 Brookline Avenue, Boston

Join us in person or virtually via zoom to hear from prominent leaders in the science community, celebrate and support women in research and medicine, and engage in a dynamic Q&A session. The Summit will be followed by a networking reception for those able to join in-person.

10th Annual World Medical Innovation Forum

September 23-25, 2024

Presented by Mass General Brigham and Bank of America, the 2024 World Medical Innovation Forum will focus on three major investment and scientific growth areas—oncology, rare disease, and immunology and inflammation. At the Forum, you’ll have direct access to speakers and peers including dozens of leading CEOs, senior investors, entrepreneurs, government officials, and prominent Harvard clinicians and scientists.

We look forward to welcoming you to Boston—the hub of biotech—and the state-of-the-art meeting center at the top-rated Encore Boston Harbor September 23–25.

NEW 4th Annual Conference on Precision Psychiatry

September 26-27, 2024

The Annual Conference on Precision Psychiatry, hosted by the MGH Center for Precision Psychiatry, is becoming a leading venue for showcasing advances in the application of precision medicine approaches to psychiatric research and clinical practice. The Conference will be held virtually over the course of two days: Thursday, September 26th and Friday, September 27th, 2024.